Laxus Dreyar: The Third Generation Dragon Slayer
by ArtemSolis
Summary: There was one other Dragon that had survived Acnologia's rampage. Alastor Monaxia had waited for Igneel's arrival from the past in order to aid their Dragon Slayers fight Acnologia. However, the 400 years have made Alastor paranoid. Uncertain with the future, he decides to take in his own Dragon Slayer and to ensure his race's continued survival. FULL SUMMARY INSIDE!
1. Chapter 1 - Enter The Thunder Dragon!

_**DISCLAIMER:**_ _ **NO ONE IN FANFIC OWNS ANYTHING BUT THEIR OC's!**_ unless a professional author randomly decides to write stories here, which I would find very odd.

 **A/N:** **Finally got around to do this! And from the looks of it, I'm the only** (active) **shipper for S.S. LaxTear (Laxus x Ultear), which is kind of sad. I can't describe what they have. We haven't really seen these two interact so it's not 'chemistry'. It's more to do their backstory. Laxus had an unwavering faith in his dad as a kid, while Ultear simply gave up on believing her mother's love for her, but both of them ended up being WRONG. If they somehow had the chance to partner up in Canon and somehow manage to talk about each other's past as a kid, I'm sure it could spark a very beautiful relationship of a man and a woman patching each other up.**

 **But this fic isn't like that. LOL**

 **PREMISE:**

When Acnologia had lost his mind and turned on the dragons, it was not just five dragons that choose to fight him, it was ten dragons. Bound together by a common goal, Igneel and four other dragons decided they needed to recover their strength to properly defeat Acnologia, thus they planned to send themselves to the future to regain their power with their Dragon Slayers. However, the other five dragons had their doubts with the plan as they had no guarantee they would return to a world not ruled or destroyed by the self-proclaimed Dragon King. These five dragons chose to stay behind, to sacrifice themselves and fight Acnologia head on to make sure the Igneel and the other dragons would return to a world that was not ravaged by Acnologia.

And on the day Igneel's party left Earthland, the five dragons fought Acnologia directly, sealing him away for 100 years but at the cost of one of their own. Once the 100 years passed, Acnologia was released from his prison and the dragons rose up once more, fighting the damned Dragon King with the same results. Each time, they had to sacrifice one of their number, just to make sure the other dragons succeeded in sealing the Betrayer away and leaving the world at peace, if only temporarily.

And now, only one dragon was left. Alastor Monaxia, King of Edeoceas, makes his final stand. However, the past 400 years have made him paranoid, and there was still no sign of Igneel and the other dragons arriving from the past. Worried that Igneel and his group might still fail against Acnologia, despite all that the dragons have sacrificed, Alastor makes his own plans to better the chances at victory and ensure the survival of his race.

* * *

 _ **Dialogue Guide:**_

"Laxus" - Normal Speech

 _"Calcos" -_ Normal Speech but in a different language

 _'Ultear' -_ Thinking/thoughts

 **"Alastor"** \- Dragon/Beast speech or Humans growling/shouting

 ** _'Igneel'_ **\- Dragon/Beast thoughts

 _ **BOOOOM!** -_Sound Effects (No apostrophes)

* * *

 **\- Magnolia -**

 **\- X768 -**

* * *

 **Marianne Dreyar** woke to the sound of thunder hitting far too close for her liking. She sat up on the queen-sized bed she rarely ever felt comfortable in and listened to the world around her. Lightning flashed through the curtains again, lighting up the room for but a moment, but it was enough for her to look at the clock hanging on the wall and showing that it was close to half past 11 PM.

There was a thunderstorm above the sky's of Magnolia, and any sane person was taking shelter inside their home, lest they become an accidental lightning rod. Inside her home, however, was eerily quiet. Her instincts were screaming at her that something was wrong, that she had to get up and check if everything was alright or not. She looked to the other side of her bed and found that her 'husband' is missing. She had seen him in the house earlier, he even had dinner with her and their son, which was a rarity in of itself, but the fact that he was missing now made her feel uneasy.

With her heart starting to pound in worry, she got up from her bed, wearing only her sky blue bed jacket over her white nightgown. She exited into the quiet hall and made her way down to her son's room. The wooden planks creaked with each step she made, increasing her uneasiness to the whole situation.

Soon enough, she was in front of the white door that led into her son's room. She grabbed the doorknob, twisted it, and gently pushed the door open.

"Laxus? Are you awake dear?" She whispered as she poked her head to peer into the room. The room was clean, for a seven-year-old child. Various wizard and guild posters were hung up on the walls, a bookshelf half filled with storybooks was set to one side of the wall, next to it was a desk with a beginners Magic book lying open, there was a closet adjacent to that with today's clothes hanging out, and a nightstand with pictures of her and Laxus together. Marianne, however, ignored all of this and zeroed in on her son's bed. Then she gasped.

His bed was empty.

"Laxus! Where are you?!" She shouted, barging into the room. She tapped the bed repeatedly with her arms, hoping it was just a trick of the light.

Still, the bed was empty.

She then knelt down to the floor, checking if her son was hiding under the bed due to the storm.

He was not there.

"Laxus!" She cried, running out of the room. She ran to the bathroom, the guest room, then went down the stairs and checked the kitchen and living room, each time calling out for her son, her precious baby boy. "Laxus, if you can hear mommy, please answer me!"

There was no answer. Marianne felt her heart beat against her chest. She had looked everywhere in their own home with no success.

Her house was empty. There was no sign of her son anywhere. The bad feeling in her gut only kept increasing as the second's tick by.

She no longer had a choice. She had to get help. She quickly ran out of her home, not giving care to the state of her attire or that of her own safety as she wore nothing but her nightgown and bed jacket. There was only one place that would not turn her away, and one person she could go to. To the Guildhall of Fairy Tail and her father-in-law, Makarov Dreyar.

* * *

 **\- East Forest -**

* * *

 **Lightning flashed in the cloudy night sky** , lighting up the East Forest in the outskirts of Magnolia for the briefest of seconds. The thunderstorm tonight raged like that of an angry god as he was about to strike down the heretics against him. There was no rain, but people still stayed in the safety of their homes, lest they attract the god's wrath down on their heads.

A second lightning strike burst out through the night, revealing a hooded man traveling along the forest path. His face was obscured in shadow as he pulled a small cart behind him with its content covered to either protect it from the weather or hide it from the prying eyes of the god above. Either way, the man just silently pulled the cart and kept walking along the forest path.

The wind started to blow. At first, it was just a breeze. But as the man continued deeper into the woods, the trees began to cry out as their leaves were starting to get blown away. Soon, the wind itself started to sound like the wailing of tortured souls. Still, the man continued to walk.

After what seemed like hours, the man finally made into a clearing. A group of men were already there. They were a rough looking group, one that no one would hesitate to call bandits. In truth, that's what they were. And by the looks on their faces, they wanted to get away from the storm and the forest as soon as possible, which works for the hooded man. As he approached the group, one bandit stepped forward with a lantern in his hand, lighting the small area around them. "Do you have the payment?!" The bandit yelled out, fearing that the wind will overpower any kind of normal conversation.

The man with the cart nodded, and ripped the cover of the cart, revealing several tied up sacks and a spiky blonde haired boy wearing a red shirt with a lightning-shaped design and blue pants and black shoes. The boy was sleeping soundly despite the wails of nature around him. The man reached for one of the sacks and tossed it to the bandit. He untied it and looked inside to see half a million worth in Jewels shining at him.

"You got what I want?" The hooded man asked, his voice oddly booming without the need to shout.

The bandit nodded eagerly and turned back to his companions. "Hey! Bring it!" He yelled at them.

Promptly, two other bandits came forward, carrying a small chest. They stopped right in front of the hooded man and opened the chest, revealing a lacrima in the shape of a large scale, as big as a dragon's.

The hooded man grinned wickedly and reached down to the lacrima. He gestured to the bandits to take the sacks of Jewels. The bandits didn't waste time and got all the bags on the cart, wanting to just end the transaction already.

As the bandits got the last sack, the one with the lantern stepped to the hooded man and said: "With this, our business is complete!"

The hooded man nodded, then turned to the young boy in the cart.

"H-Hey, you're really going to use it on the brat?!" The bandit asked.

"What's it to you?" The hooded man asked back.

"Seems like a waste! If my boss didn't want the jewels, I'd use the lacrima on myself!" The bandit declared.

The hooded man stopped for a second. Then he turned his head to look at the bandit with a tilt. "And that's why you're an idiot."

"Ha?!" The bandit sputtered, too dumbstruck to retort at being called an idiot.

"Dragon Slayer Magic lacrimas are rare aren't they?" The man queried, and the bandit nodded. "They're also dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. If you don't have enough strength, you'll die using it you know? But you see, this brat here just so happens to have the right element for this lacrima, so like this, if I use it on him, he'll have a high chance of survival.

"Ah, but he's a weakling! It's too much power for him anyway, and it will end up just a waste!" The man chuckled, looking down to the lacrima in his hand.

"So... Why?" The bandit asked, though his voice was nearly blown in the wind.

"Hehehe, even if he's a weak brat, in the future, once he's grown up a little and gain a little power, I'll just take the lacrima back from him and sell it!" The man exclaimed ecstatically. "The lacrima will then hold a lot more power! It'll sell for twice- No, ten times as much by then! Hihihi! Hahahahaha!"

The bandit broke out in cold sweat as he watched the hooded man laugh like a madman. He kept silent as he just watched him walk up to the kid and hold the lacrima over him. In truth, the bandit felt pity for the brat. He might be a bandit, robbing and stealing from people, as well as the odd kill in a raid or two, but at least he can say he's not twisted enough to use some kid like some guinea pig he's going to fatten up to sell to the market.

 _ **BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

Just as the man was about to insert the lacrima into the child, lightning struck the clearing, blinding everyone there in a great flash of light. Thunder rang in their ear, and they were deafened to the world around them.

 **"FURES! PRAEDONES! EXTERMINATI SUNT!"**

Even while their ears were still ringing from the explosion of thunder, a great voice echoed in the forest and resounded deep into the men's souls. Each syllable was slow and unhurried, yet echoed like thunder. Soon, their vision cleared. Some of the bandits realized they had fallen to their knees, while others had landed on their rear ends. The hooded man, however, was able to remain standing.

As the men regained their vision, they saw, there, from across the cart, stood a beast of legends. Its blue eyes shining like stars in the night, while lightning bolts crackled along its body. With each bolt, it's aqua-green scales glowed in the night while its underside continuously shone a pale silver color. Its claws and talons were jet black, like obsidian, promising a sharp and quick end to their foe. The Great bat-like wings on it's back were unfurled, making the beast seem larger than it already was. Golden spikes grew along the spine, shoulders, and forelimbs, all the while pulsing with aqua-green energy. The beast had a slender neck attached to its robust body. It had a triangular head, with a snout that held rows of sharp teeth and two golden horns on top of its head like a regal crown of a King.

It was a dragon.

A real, living, breathing, thunder dragon.

And it looked at them with fury in its eyes.

 **"Nonne putas te posse celare mea vere a me temporis acti?! Dalcops! Membrorum tuorum, et seorsum pascat te erunt-!"** The dragon growled and roared at them in its dragon tongue, but just as it seemed like he was about to meet out their verdict, the legendary beast paused and looked down to the hooded man and the child.

It blinked. Once. Twice. Then it lowered its massive head and took a closer look at the two, before taking one big sniff of the child.

The dragon seemed to pause as if it was in thought. It stared at the man as he held the lacrima over the boy, then the child, then back to the man, and back and forth between them. The whole clearing held its breath. Even the howling wind seemed to have turned into soft whispering as if this scene was the most important one in the world.

 **"You... Human..."** The dragon spoke, to everyone's shock, in human tongue. **"Are you this child's father?"** It probed.

The hooded man said nothing, though his mouth was wide open. He just nodded his answer to the beast.

 **"Hmm..."** The dragon hummed, considering something in its thoughts. **"Is the child... Sick?"** The beast asked, curiosity in its voice.

As the atmosphere had suddenly changed, the hooded man gawks openly as his mind tried to catch up to the dragon's change of mood. Before he could respond, he felt a sharp pain in his side. He looked down to the source and found the first bandit he talked to, had just jabbed him with his elbow. He looked to the bandit and saw him mouth the words _"Just go with it!"_

Frowning, the hooded man turned back to the dragon and only nodded again.

 **"... I see."** The dragon said, closing its eyes. **"Your son's life was in danger to the sickness, and in order to save him, you have gone to great lengths to acquire my lacrima."** The dragon exclaimed. Causing the hooded man and all the bandits to be left dumbstruck as the beast seemed to have greatly misunderstood the actual events. As everyone's mind was left trying to figure out how he could come to that conclusion, the dragon just nodded it's head approvingly at the hooded man, its eyes still closed. **"Admirable, very admirable. Very well! I shall grant you this boon.** **I can smell the traces of Magic around the child. He has high affinity to my element, and I will further ensure that the lacrima is absorbed properly!**

 **"Do it, human! Place the lacrima in your son's body! I shall make sure it succeeds."** The dragon declared. The hooded man not believing his luck, simply did as he was told and inserted the lacrima into his son. A golden light enveloped the boy and the dragon had a look of concentration as he merged the lacrima with the child's Magic Power. After a few minutes, the merging was completed without a hitch. However, the dragon had fully seen the child's body from head to toe and it's face morphed into unsatisfaction.

 **"Human... This child is weak."** The dragon growled out in anger. Whether at the boy being weak or at the hooded man for raising him weak, no one knew. The hooded man simply nodded, agreeing with the dragon's opinion. The boy was weak, just like his mother.

 **"I will train him."** The dragon unexpectedly declared.

The winds stopped. The flashes of lightning disappeared. The bandits froze. The whole world seemed to have gone completely still once again as the dragon had, again, said something unbelievable.

The dragon ignored it all, as it focused its vision instead on the boy. He gently took him in his arms and cradled him with great care, making sure that he did not wake.

The hooded man wanted to protest. He didn't know how long it will be until the brat finishes his training or if he'll even get him back after all. But just as he opened his mouth to yell out his protest, a hand clamped down on his mouth, stopping the words from coming out. He looked to the side and saw the owner of the hand being the same bandit next to him, vigorously shaking his head as if to say: _'no'_.

The hooded man didn't care though and kept trying to free himself from the bandits' grasp. The other bandits getting an idea of what their comrade was doing, jumped the hooded man and they all crashed to the ground in a heap, keeping the hooded man from saying anything that would stop the dragon from misunderstanding the situation and resume on ending their lives.

The dragon didn't take notice of the squabble and only kept focusing on the child in his arms. **"There may be hope for my plans yet."** He whispered quietly to no one in particular.

He looked back up at the humans and curiously found them in a pile on top of each other. He raised a brow but otherwise paid them no heed. He has what he came for, and it was time he departed. He unfurled his great wings and prepared to take his leave. He paused, just to leave the humans with some parting words. **"I shall return this child back to you in ten years time. When the time comes, return to this forest, and you shall see your son once again. With this, I shall leave you in peace."**

With that, the dragon jumped into the air. His great wings flapped against the wind as he was ascending up to the sky. The dragon roared with the sound of thunder, and the storm clouds flashed with lightning in response. The clouds then parted, like great gates opening in the sky to welcome the return of their King, then closed as he passed them by.

As the dragon left, the storm started to disperse. The peaceful normality of an evening forest slowly returned to the clearing. The bandits felt like they were waking up from a dream, realizing they had just seen a legendary beast and escaped will all their limbs intact, though they might have lost a year or two in fear. Give or take.

"Ge- -ff me!" The hooded man yelled through the hands obstructing his mouth. He struggled against the weight on top of him, and the bandits promptly got off of their client. During the scuffle, the man's hood fell off and revealed a man with black hair and tanned skin. He sported a unique-looking beard; a chin curtain, with several lines of facial hair around his mouth shooting upwards in an odd pattern. Now that the bandits had a good look at him, he was quite tall and well muscular under his cloak.

"How dare you!" The man growled, making most of the bandits flinched at the primal voice of the man.

The first bandit, however, didn't even waver and stood his ground. "If we didn't give it the kid, the dragon would have killed us all." He pointed out. "We were lucky he misunderstood what you wanted to do! We barely escaped with our lives!"

"And what about the brat huh? I paid you millions of jewels!" The man retorted.

The bandit, however, was unfazed and shrugged. "You got what you wanted. We gave you the lacrima just as the boss promised. Whatever happened after that was not our concern. Besides, with this, wouldn't you get more than what you want? A lacrima that was personally trained by a dragon would be worth an entire country!"

The man gnashed his teeth, unable to come up with any retort. Seeing this, the lead bandit signaled his men to leave. The man could do nothing but silently glare as the bandits gathered themselves, each holding onto several sacks of jewel and promptly left the clearing, not even leaving a trace of their existence.

 **"DAAAAAAAMMMMNNNN ITTTTT!"** The man suddenly yelled and threw a massive amount of paper dolls at a random location. The ground exploded, sending rock and dirt flying while, releasing a powerful wave of dark energy that left a small crater on the ground.

The man was left breathless, more so from the yelling than getting tired. Though he soon got his breathing back under control before he cursed again and sighed quietly. He had no Jewels, and now, no lacrima enhanced brat to show for it.

Ivan Dreyar was not looking forward to going back to town.

* * *

 **\- Fairy Tail Guild Hall -**

* * *

 **Makarov Dreyar** was the Third Guild Master of Fairy Tail. He had lived his life going through many, many adventures, seen many different lands, met with the other races and even had fallen in love. He had a vast wealth of experience under his belt, and because of that, he knew which 'signs' to look out for. Signs that screamed 'trouble is coming', signs that just meant something horrible was going to happen.

And yet, Makarov had been waiting for the other shoe to drop. In fact, he had been waiting for it to drop the entire day.

Fairy Tail had, if you could believe it, a slow day. Nothing had happened. There were no enormous and chaotic brawls, nor was there any explosion or things smashed to bits, no bills asking him to pay for damages(for today at least), and he didn't have to deal with anyone from the Council or the local Custody Enforcement Unit. Other than the freak thunderstorm that came out of nowhere, it was a quiet day, and it was about to end.

Gildarts, the Ace of Fairy Tail, was there earlier in the day. Makarov had shared his unease with him, but Gildarts just called him paranoid, chalking it up to his age catching up to him before leaving for an upper A-Class mission. He had grumbled all the way until evening, but now he thought that, perhaps, Gildarts was right. Perhaps his senses just weren't as sharp as they used to be.

In any case, he was still the Guild Master and had to call the end of the day.

"Alright everyone, it's almost closing time!" Makarov yelled from his spot on the bar counter. "And that means you should get your last refill of Mead before we all go home!" Cheers of affirmative yelled across the wooden guild hall. However, just before the first person could get a new mug of Mead, the guild doors slammed open, accompanied by the loud boom of thunder from the storm outside. Every person in the guild turned their heads to the doors, wondering who just entered and what just happened.

A woman with golden blonde hair burst through the doors. She looked like she had run to the guild with all her might, as she was panting heavily and was leaning on the door as she knelt down on the ground from exhaustion. She was wearing a white nightgown that hugged her hourglass figure with a blue bed jacket that matched her eyes. Makarov's eyes widened as he recognized the beautiful woman that had just entered the Guild and instantly knew the other shoe had finally dropped and had led to this.

"Ma-Makarov..." The woman stuttered between pants, the distress very evident in her voice.

"Marianne?" Makarov asked. Faster than anyone thought possible for the diminutive Guild Master, he moved next to the woman's side almost instantly. "What's wrong? What happened? Are you alright?"

Before he could take hold of her hands to calm his daughter-in-law down, she grabbed hold of his clothes with a strong grip he didn't think possible for the normally demure woman.

"I-its Laxus!" She cried, tears starting to spill from her eyes. "He's gone!"

Makarov paled. He felt like his heart had skipped a beat and that his years had caught up with him. But then he grabbed hold of his years of experience and schooled his features. He used a little bit of his Giant Magic, stretching his arms onto Marianne's shoulders and gripped her reassuringly.

"Tell me what happened." He cajoled, almost like an order. His daughter-in-law then told him how she had woken up with a bad feeling and went to check on Laxus, only to find him gone from his bed. After she had checked the whole house, she came running to the guild despite her declining health.

"Maybe the kid just went out for a walk." A voice pipped in from the side. Makarov glanced around and realized that everyone still in the Guild had gathered around them.

"No! Laxus wouldn't do that! It's not like him to just up and leave in the middle of the night!" Marianne cried, her voice filled with desperation.

Makarov could see the Fairies look at each other with doubt in their eyes. He could tell they were worried about Laxus, but they had so little to go on on what actually happened, it was natural for them to hesitate to help. But he was already convinced and believed in his daughter-in-law...

"She's right. It's out of my grandson's character to just slip out in the middle of the night." Makarov stated, his tone making the decision for the guild. He then noticed that someone had been forgotten in the entire exchange and asked her: "Marianne, where's Ivan?"

"I don't know." She said, shaking her head. "He was home earlier when I had put Laxus to sleep, but there was no sign of him when I woke up."

Makarov nodded, unsurprised that his son wasn't given much thought by his own wife. Ivan was far from the ideal man, and even further as a decent husband. The only reason why Marianne and Ivan had gotten and stayed together, was because of Laxus.

He helped Marianne up from the floor and guided her to a nearby table to sit down, the Guild members giving way to them. He pulled the chair for his daughter-in-law and made her sit, while he called for one of the Guild's employee to get Marianne some tea to calm her down.

Makarov then beckoned for one of his Guild members, a young man in his twenties with slicked back dark-blue hair and with a jaw growing a significant amount of stubble and a thin mustache. "Macao. Go upstairs to the third floor and ring the Guild bell once." He ordered.

"R-Right." Macao stuttered, before running up the stairs to follow his masters' orders. Ringing the bell once was a call to any willing member to the Guildhall at once. However, this was basically announcing to the whole of Magnolia that something important had come up and it wasn't a particularly good idea to announce that the most troublesome Guild was having trouble themselves.

"Marianne," Makarov called, looking towards his daughter-in-law. "I have to prepare for calling everyone here, so I need to leave you alone for the time being. Will you be alright?"

Marianne nodded. "Yes. Thank you... Father. And... I'm sorry." She mumbled, glancing down to her hands. Makarov could tell she felt vexed with herself due to her fragility. Before Marianne could berating herself further, he took her hands together in his. She looked up at him and he gave her the softest smile he could manage. "Do not blame yourself, Marianne. You've done all you can in your position."

She stared at him for a moment before she nodded her head. "... Alright. Thank you, Father."

Makarov, however, knew she wasn't convinced and was still blaming herself not with just tonight's events, but with years worth of frailty. Marianne's health wasn't the best. In fact, her giving birth to Laxus was a miracle in of itself. He didn't know the details about her home life, but he could easily picture Marianne being forced to stay in bed most of the time due to her own weak body. All the while, Laxus is left doing most of the chores and even cooking food for her. Any parent would hate themselves for not being able to do anything for their children other than being a burden.

He could only sigh and nod to his daughter-in-law as he turned around and went up to his office. He'll try and help Marianne's home life at a later time, but right now, he needed to help her find her son, and he'll have to prepare and ask the Guild to help with that.

* * *

The bell on top of Fairy Tail rang out once. A Magic Tool in its own, it tolled loud and clear in the whole Magnolia, echoing in the ears of many Fairy Tail Mage be they awake or deep in slumber. They did not have to think about it, not even a second of thought was put into consideration. They all got up and headed out. The bell rang out, that meant their family needed them. There was no if's, and's, or but's about it.

In twenty minutes, the Guildhall was as full as if it was the middle of the day. The key difference, however, was that they were chatting and talking nervously to one another.

"Hey, what's happening? Why was the bell rung?" One of the Fairies asked as he joined a nearby table. The Guild bells were ever only rung when something important had happened.

"I don't know, I just got here myself. I was having a really nice dream too." Another answered, looking only half awake.

"Hey, keep your voices down." Macao hissed, joining their table. "Now's not the time to be so lackadaisical. The Master is really pissed!"

"Then do you know what's going on Macao?" The newly arrived Fairy asked.

"Yeah, I do and were probably not gonna get any sleep tonight." Macao asserted.

"Then what the heck happened?" A female Fairy demanded from another table, as she was leaning back on her chair towards them.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you lot," Macao said. He looked around and noticed he now had an audience as the other nearby tables were also paying attention to him. "Laxus has gone missing." He told them plainly.

"The Master's grandson? What do you mean missing?" A different table asked.

"Just that. The kid is gone." Macao stated, before gesturing towards the corner, where a blonde-haired woman was dejectedly looking down on her cup of tea that had long ago gone cold. "Marianne woke up earlier due to the storm. She went to check on Laxus, but he wasn't anywhere in the house."

"Couldn't the kid have just gone out on his own?" The sleepy Fairy asked. "Don't kids do that all the time?"

"That's what some of us thought too, but the Master says Laxus wasn't the type to sneak out and worry his mom like that." Macao assured.

"It's true." A new female Fairy spoke as she pulled up a chair and sat down next to Macao. She had shoulder-length dark purple hair and violet eyes. She was of average height with tanned skin, large breasts, and a curvaceous figure. Currently, she was wearing a revealing orange bikini top and a matching orange skirt, giving her the appearance of a Dancer.

"E-Enno?" Macao stuttered with a slight blushed at the new arrival.

"I mean it's not like Laxus to just up and leave. We've all seen him running around here all the time right?" Enno queried and saw the people around her nodding their heads. Fairy Tail was a tightly knit group. It was impossible for them to not know the Guild Master and his family. "Then you know just how close he is to the Master. So if he says he wouldn't, then he really wouldn't."

"Come to think of it, the Master asked me to help out in their house a few times." The first female Fairy recalled. "From what I've seen, Laxus takes good care of Marianne, and a kid like that wouldn't make his mom worry by just going out for the night."

"Then could he have been kidnapped?" A different table piped in.

"You idiot, don't let Marianne hear you!" Macao hissed at them.

"S-sorry." The new Fairy stammered in a quieter tone. "But if he didn't leave on his own, then doesn't that mean some took him?"

"Who would even be crazy enough to take the Fairy Tail's Guild Master's grandson?" Macao wondered.

"Maybe Ivan?" The sleepy Fairy suggested.

"... What?" The Fairy asked with his brows raised, as he noticed all eyes had gone to him.

"N-no, it's just that, Ivan is the Master's son right? So could he really just kidnap his own kid?" Macao explained, but it sounded weak even to him as he kept thinking about it.

"... Couldn't he?" The female Fairy pondered.

No one answered. They started to look around for their suspected culprit, only to find him absent. The forlorn Marianne sitting alone in the corner only seemed to reinforce the idea in their heads that Ivan had taken Laxus to gods-know-where and did something to him.

The Fairies weren't fond of Ivan in the first place, only dealing with him because he was their Master's son, but even Makarov had a hard time dealing with his son. Because of that, they could all easily picture Ivan being the culprit.

"That bastard..." Enno snarled quietly and gaining everyone's attention. She was glaring down on the table as if Ivan's face would pop out of it any moment. "If he really did something to Laxus, I'll beat him up to hell and back."

No one said anything, but they all nodded, agreeing with Enno wholeheartedly. Especially after knowing that not only is Laxus really close to the Guild Master, he was also a good kid that took care of his mom despite his young age. No one said anymore, but they all swore in their hearts that they would make Ivan pay if he did something to an innocent kid like that.

If only they knew they were already too late.

Tables further away from the conversation of Macao, Enno, and the others got curious and began asking what they had talked about. Soon, the whole topic had gotten passed around to the entire hall. All the Fairies ended up with the same conclusion as Enno, and they were now burning with the same overprotective urge to find and save Laxus.

In a few more minutes, a door opened on the second floor. Immediately, the whole hall fell into silence, and they all looked up, expecting to see their Guild Master. Except this time, he wasn't the Makarov Dreyar they usually see, the one with a full smile on his face and a goofy and fun presence. No, this Makarov wasn't that. In fact, they weren't sure if it was the same person at all, as the Makarov Dreyar in front of them moved to stand next to the railings, easily reaching 190 cm tall, was as robust as any muscular man, and wearing the full regalia of a Wizard Saint. He had a serious look on his face with steel underneath his gaze while his whole presence exuded an air of authority around him. There was no arguing with this man, when he gave an order, you followed it. Period.

"I'll keep this brief as I'm sure word has gotten around by now." He told them, his voice controlled and steady. "Laxus, my grandson, has gone missing. The who or why is not known, but that doesn't matter. All that matters is that we don't know where he is, and that is the reason why I have called you here now.

"You should all know that this matter is not directly related to the Guild, as such this is not an order. You have no obligation to hear my request and can simply turn around and go back to sleep. There will be no repercussions whatsoever. Those who do not wish to get involved, leave now."

"Screw that!" Enno snapped, the chair she sat on falling down in a clatter as she suddenly stood up. "Not only is he your grandson Master, but Laxus has been coming to the Guild almost every day and even wants to join Fairy Tail when he grows up! To me, he's as good as one of our own!"

"Yeah, that's right! He's one of us!" Macao agreed, standing up himself.

"And Fairy Tail sticks together!" Another Fairy joined in.

"No one messes with our family!"

"We'll tear apart Magnolia to look for him if we have too!"

Cheers of affirmation and agreement rang throughout the hall. Makarov looked down on his people with pride his eyes, though his face didn't show it. Right now, they still had a job to do.

"Very good!" He told them, before using Requip and taking out a Lacrima-Vision from his spatial storage. He poured his Magic into the device and a large see-through map of Magnolia was suddenly displayed in the air in front of the Guild. "You will be divided into teams. I will give you an area, and I want you to comb through it thoroughly. If you find Laxus, your priority is to get him to safety. If you think you can't do that without causing a fight, send word back immediately. If the situation is dire, send up a signal flare into the sky, and we will converge to your location. Is that understood?"

 **" " " Yes, Guild Master! " " "** The whole Guild answered.

For the next half hour, Fairy Tail had been sending out search parties of three or four into Magnolia, trying to find a single clue to Ivan or Laxus whereabouts. Despite Fairy Tail's usual displeasure when dealing with them, The local Rune Knights and Custody Enforcement Unit were also notified of the search. They sent word back that they couldn't actively help out in the search due to a lack of manpower, but they would keep their eyes and ears open, especially on the town's entry and exit points.

Once the entire Guild had been sent out, and the Guildhall was silent, Makarov finally let out a sigh of exhaustion and released the steel like persona he had assumed. He looked towards the corner and spotted Marianne, still in her seat with the same cup of tea in her hands. He walked down from the second floor and approached her table before he gently placed a hand on her shoulders. "Marianne, I think it's time for you to get some rest. Come, I'll walk you home." He told her quietly.

She looked up at him then, her weary eyes meeting his. "No... I'll, I'll help too! He's my son and-"

Makarov stopped her by waving his free hand. "You've done your part. Let us do the rest. Besides, someone needs to wait in your house, just in case either Laxus or Ivan come back, right?"

Reluctantly, Marianne looked down to the floor but nodded her head all the same. Makarov let out another sigh, before offering his daughter-in-law his hand, helping her up from her seat, and escorting her home. He walked her all the way to her porch and watched as she entered her house in the dead of the night. Once he was satisfied, Makarov turned around left the quiet residential district. He was heading for a bar he knew Ivan visited, in fact, a whole list of places was in his mind, and he was going to have to go to them one by one.

Unknown to Makarov, Marianne did not go up to her bed to sleep out the rest of the night. In fact, she found it impossible to even be able to get any sleep tonight. She was too vexed at herself. She was too sick, too frail... She wished, not for the first time, that she just had a little more power, just enough so that she was normal.

She wiped her eyes, catching the tears before they spilled out. Then she went to her living room, grabbed a picture of her and Laxus smiling happily at the camera, before sitting down on their sofa and longingly looking at the picture.

And then she waited.

* * *

 **\- Magnolia -**

* * *

 **Ivan Dreyar** was a very skilled Mage and an even craftier person, but for all his talent and cunning, he was starting to think his luck was just terrible.

First, he had a father that was just some goody-two-shoes-chan. Second, his mom-chan died. Third, his favorite hobby was 'illegal'. Fourth, he had to get that slut-chan, Marianne, pregnant and he was forced to marry her. And fifth? The damn brat was gone! Along with his hard-earned jewels! Oh, sure the damned dragon-chan said he'll bring the brat back, but who knows if that beast wouldn't just decide to eat the brat, just cause he got hungry?

All in all, everything was just terrible!

Despite that and his bleak attitude to the current events, he still had enough presence of mind to make himself invisible and disguise the sound of his footsteps. There were guards at the entrance of Magnolia, but there was no way they could have discovered him entering. Heck, they didn't even find out when he was dragging a cart around, much less, now that he was empty handed.

His Illusion Magic was something he kept to himself. No need to tell anyone just how good he was at it. He was even good enough to fool his dad, and he has a Wizard Saint status!

He left the idiotic guards behind, not paying attention to them as they seemed to be discussing something important. He was too busy having an 'investors-remorse'. So busy in fact, that he did not notice the night was oddly busy, with people running around at every other corner and Magi jumping from roof to roof.

He headed to a nearby bar, wanting to just get smashed. It was one of those bars that wouldn't tell their customer's wife if they had seen her husband, despite just seeing him enter their establishment with two young girls in his arms just a few seconds ago. And that was just the kind of bar Ivan liked... Well, not like they ever had a reason to lie for him. Slut-chan never looked for him in the first place.

Ivan took off his illusion before he entered the building, and immediately went to the wooden bar counter, sat down, and waved a bartender over. "Give me a Cockatrail." He ordered.

The bartender raised a brow. A Cockatrail was a very, very strong cocktail, fermented even further by using a few drops of blood from a cockatrice. As a result, they tend to be expensive. In the end, though, the bartender just shrugged and prepared his drink.

As the bartender worked his magic(not real Magic) with the bottles. Then he paused for the briefest of seconds before he continued preparing his drink and looked Ivan in the eye. "By the way Mr. Dreyar, your father came by earlier. He was looking for you apparently."

Ivan grunted. It was the bar's policy to inform their clients if someone was looking for them. However, he didn't care what the old man wanted right now. Ivan simply just waved the bartender to get on with the drinks.

Having done his duty, the bartender just shrugged and finished mixing the shot before he slid it in front of Ivan. "That'll be 600 Jewels." The bartender said. Ivan reached into his pocket and threw a small pouch filled with Jewels at the bartender, who fumbled with catching it and stupidly gaping his eyes as he saw the amount inside.

"Keep them coming," Ivan said, before taking the shot. It went down like fire, burning his whole throat. "Gods, I needed that," he said quietly. Not long after, the bartender slid him a couple more shots of Cockatrails.

* * *

 **\- Dreyar Residence -**

* * *

The sun was peeking over the horizon, and Marianne was still sitting in the same spot. No one had come to check on her, or to tell her they had found her son, so she guessed there were no signs of him.

Tears of worry and fear started to spill from her eyes, dripping down to the picture in her lap. _'If only I weren't so sick... if only I weren't born with this body.'_ She berated herself. She didn't want power or anything like that. She just wanted a normal, healthy body so she could do more for her precious son. If she had a normal body, she could be out there, searching for her son instead of painfully having to wait, not knowing where he could have gone.

 _ **PAT, PAT, PAT**_

Marianne turned her head to the door. There was a sound of footsteps, then a rustling of clothes, before there was the sound of a small metal grinding against the doorknob. It wasn't until an audible _**click**_ resounded in the house until she figured out someone was opening her door.

She quickly got up, still clutching the picture in her hand and hoping her son was home.

To her dismay, however, instead of seeing a small figure with a tuft of spiky blonde hair, she saw a tall figure with hair as black as night and the tan skin of her 'dear husband', Ivan Dreyar. He was stumbling around as he hiccuped, and each of his steps was off balanced. It was undeniable that he was drunker than any sailor as he fell to his knees just a few steps beyond the door, not even being able to close it behind him.

Marianne sighed, her hopes dying in her heart. Still, she moved to her husband's side and grabbed his arm, intending to help him up and drag him, at the very least, to the sofa. But as she looked down, there, on his arm, she saw a single strand of blonde hair. It wasn't long like that of a woman, or silky like that of a young girl. It was short and straight, just like that of a boy's, just like that of her son's.

"Ivan... Where's Laxus?" She probed out immediately.

She was expecting him to deny knowing where he was, or to ask her rhetorically "Isn't he upstairs?" Instead, however, he did the most unexpected thing to that question.

He laughed.

"Hihihi, hahah- **_HIC_ **hihihi. Laxus? _**HIC**_ The brat?" Ivan giggled from the floor, before somehow finding strength in his legs. He stood up and towered over Marianne, making her step back from his maniac grin. "You want to know where the brat is? Do you? _**HIC**_ Well, do you slut-chan?"

Marianne gulped. She was afraid of this man. Always had been. That's why she couldn't resist him when he raped her. Why she just let it happen. Too scared of getting hurt when she was already so weak.

But then, her hand was gripping something, and she remembered the picture she had been staring at all night. Remembered the smile of her son. "... Yes. I want to know. Please, tell me where Laxus is." She said quietly, but with every scrap of bravery she could muster.

"Hihihi, the brat, _**HIC**_ hey listen to this slut-chan! Hihihihihi! The brat got taken by a dragon!" Ivan giggled hysterically.

"What?!" Marianne screamed out. "Ivan, did you just say a dragon took our son?" In her horror and worry, she did not notice she grabbed Ivan's arm and was gripping it with all she could.

Ivan's mind glared where slut-chan was gripping him, it didn't like the image and was sending signals to his arm to shake her off, but it was like the arm itself had fallen asleep. His mouth, however, moved, grinned, and answered on its own. "Yeah. A dragon took the brat. It was all happy too. _**HIC**_ Didn't even look at me twice after he got his grubby claws on Laxus-chan."

"And you just let him take our son away?!" She screamed, horrified at her baby boy being taken by a legendary beast.

"Oh no, dragon-chan said he'll bring him back. In ten years. _**HIC**_ Hihihi, but by then I'll take the lacrima back." Ivan answered, still not able to get control of his mouth.

"W-what do you mean? What lacrima? What are you talking about?" Marianne questioned, not following where the lacrima had come from.

"Oh, the dragon lacrima I put in him! I plan to get it back one day. Hihihi, and listen slut-chan, after I get the lacrima back, I'll be rich! _**HIC**_ Rich enough to buy a country!"

"What about Laxus? You said the dragon will bring him back, right?" Marianne persisted, needing to know if her son was alright.

"When the dragon comes back, Laxus-chan wouldn't matter!" Ivan's mouth smiled evilly. "I'll take the lacrima back, and he'll be dead!"

 _ **SLAP!**_

Marianne had snapped at those words, and her hand instinctively slapped the man in front of her across his jaw. "YOU SCUMBAG!" She screamed, anger fueling her actions. "How could you even think of doing that to your son! To MY baby boy?!" As she said those words, however, Marianne's rage began to settle, and she realized her mistake. But it was already too late.

Ivan's mind seemed to wake from that slap, gaining full control of its own body once again and glared at the woman in front of him. "You bitch!" He snarled, before pushing her body down.

To Marianne, this scene was familiar. She screamed as she was sent sprawling to the floor and Ivan's body came looming over her smaller frame. It reminded her of when he raped her... The first time. This time though, she was going to struggle. The man in front of her, the man that had planned to hurt her son, him alone she would not surrender her body too. She struggled with all her might as Ivan ripped off her nightgown and groped her body lewdly. She kept slapping him across his face and torso, trying to make him stop but that just made him grab her hand and hold them above her head. With his massive frame, he overpowered her, easily bruising her thin wrist from his grip alone. She then started to kick and scream, and her leg managed to kick him in the gut, and Ivan let out a grunt of pain as he clenched his stomach.

"You fucker! You filthy whore!" He yelled before his hands closed around her thin neck.

Marianne's eyes widened as Ivan had gone over the edge. She started to gasp as the air was cut off from her lungs. With Ivan's strength, he wasn't able to just choke her. He was able to do much more. Her vision started to black out. She frantically looked around, trying to look for an escape or something but saw nothing in reach... Except for the picture frame she had dropped when he had pushed her down. She tried to grab it, extending her arm as far out as she could while she lost the air in her lungs. As she grabbed the picture, Ivan noticed what she was trying to do and smirked evilly. "Do you really think that will save you, slut-chan?"

'No.' She answered in her mind as tears started to drip from her eyes unendingly. She has no hope to escape from Ivan's grip, no strength left to even resist. She turned her head to the picture, knowing full well that she was going to die. She only wanted to see her son, her most precious thing in the world... smile at her one last time.

"La... xus..."

 _ **SNAP**_

Makarov sighed as he walked along the residential houses of Magnolia. He was heading to Marianne's home, just to tell her that no one had seen hide or tail of Laxus, or of Ivan for that matter. He had combed through every bar, every club, and every establishment that Ivan frequented and could frequent.

Before he could turn the last corner, he heard a scuffle ensuing, and that same feeling of something terrible was about to happen crept up his spine. He wasted no time and started dashing with all his might, heading for Marianne's house. He saw the door was wide open and a tall body of a man was looming over his daughter-in-law's small frame. He wasted no time and charged in, preparing to use his Giant Magic to tac-

 _ **SNAP**_

Makarov roared and used his Giant Magic to transform his whole body to a bulldozer, sending the man flying through the house, creating man-sized holes all the way into the backyard with one mighty hit.

Makarov landed on his knees from his attack and looked down to check on Marianne but immediately gasped. "Gods, no. Please, please, no. Not again." He whispered as he turned back to his regular dwarf size.

Her clothing was ripped apart, leaving her body bare to be seen by all the world. There were bruises over her body, evidence of where the man had grasped her. He picked up her injured wrist and felt for a pulse.

"No. Please. Not like this. Please, not like this." Makarov begged, tears almost spilling from his eyes.

There was no pulse.

He moved to her head and tried to ignore the way her neck was bent unnaturally and placed a hand over her mouth.

She wasn't breathing.

"No!" He gasped. "No no no no no no." He kept repeating the words as tears spilled out from his eyes. He placed a hand over her heart, praying to all the gods above for it to beat against his palm.

But there was nothing.

Marianne Dreyar was dead.

Makarov fell to his knees. He had lost another family member, and this time, right in front of him. He wanted to break down and grieve, but he steeled himself as best he could. There were things he still had to do. He took off his cloak and stretched it with Magic to cover Marianne's entire body, meaning to give her some dignity at the very least. As he moved, he noticed her eyes were looking towards the picture frame in her hands. Of her and Laxus spending the day happily together.

Unbridled and unrestrained rage spread to every inch of his body. How could someone hurt a woman as gentle as Marianne? Whose sole wish was to only live out her days with her son with a smile?

Makarov glared at where he had sent the man flying to the backyard of the house. Every single ounce of hatred his heart could produce was made just for this man. He stalked over to the man, each breath was ragged due to the intense wrath he felt for the murderer of his daughter.

The man was crumpled in the dirt, his body having left a small trench in his flight from the house. The man lifted his head to look at Makarov, revealing a very familiar tuft of black hair to him. "Papa-chan, that hurt! How cou-" The man was about to say something, but Makarov did not care to listen. He sent his Magic to his hand, and a giant fist came crashing down on the man's stomach like a small meteor. The man spat out blood as his body was buried further into the ground, his limbs forming a 'U' shape, with blood sprouting from his mouth.

But he was still alive. Makarov held back just enough for that.

He then sent a magical flare up the sky, before he turned back around to the house and tended to his daughter's body.

Soon, a team of Fairy Tail members arrived at the house consisting of Macao, Enno, and two others. They entered the house and gasped, immediately seeing their Master kneeling down next to a body that was being covered by his cape. His face was shadowed, but they could tell their Guild Master was mourning.

"G-Guild Master?" Macao ventured quietly, afraid to break the silence that seemed to have fallen on the house.

"Follow the holes in the wall to the backyard. Restrain the man lying there. Make sure he doesn't escape." Makarov told them, his voice barely above a whisper. "Then one of you contact the CEU. Have them bring a squad over and arrest the murdering bastard."

The team gulped and nodded. They had a feeling of who was under the cape, but they wanted to deny it for as long as possible. They sent the fastest one among them to run to the local Rune Knights, before the rest went to check on the murderer their Guild Master had sent flying, judging from the holes in the wall. As they approached the murder, they all let out a gasp as they realized who it was.

"No!" Enno gasped as she saw who the murderer was. Tears started formed in her eyes as all doubt was erased as to who the body inside the house belonged to. Macao wrapped his arms around her and she began to cry into his chest.

"I-Isn't this..." The other Fairy stammered.

"... yeah..." Macao confirmed solemnly.

Silence fell on the team as they realized who was under the cloak. A plethora of emotion ran through the team. Anger, despair, loss, but most of all, uncertainty. Uncertainty on how this would affect the Guild, on how Magnolia would look at them now that one of their own was a murderer, on how their Master will act from losing another of family. Not really knowing what else to say, Macao gestured for the other Fairy to complete their task. He nodded, then used his Magic to bind the murderer and made sure that the bastard couldn't move a muscle without it hurting him like hell.

Enno then asked Macao to take her inside. Macao meanwhile told the other Fairy to stay alert and not let the murderer escape, before doing as Enno requested. As they arrived in the room, they found their Master had not moved from his spot. Enno joined him and grieved quietly, with Macao returning to the backyard and joining the other Fairy in guarding the culprit.

After some time, more Fairies arrived. Some mourned and grieved just like their Master. Most knew of Marianne, as she had been employed as an employee in Fairy Tail for a short time... Before she caught the eye of Ivan. The others move to join Macao, silently glaring at the murderer. In all of this, a cloud of gloom was being exuded by the usually boisterous Guild and surrounded the house.

The CEU arrived soon after to the Dreyar house. Even from the outside, they could tell that something had gone very, very wrong inside. Their typically antagonistic attitude to Fairy Tail was reigned in as they passed through the house's entrance. They walked in as demure as each Fairy Tail member that they saw gathered around a body and quietly went to the backyard. The Fairies gave way to the Knights and silently watched as they arrested the man, condemning him with their eyes. As the knights carried him, the man stirred awake and tried to resist, but the Restraining Magic casted by the Fairies prevented him from doing anything more than just putting up a useless struggle while he screamed profanities at the knights to let him go.

Having no way around the house, however, the CEU knights had no choice but to pass through Makarov and the grieving Fairy Tail members. Hoping they could get through quietly, they manned up and marched through. Just as they were making their way through, Makarov said: "Wait."

The knights stopped in their tracks, while the man turned his head towards Makarov with a smile of hope. "Papa-chan, I knew you wouldn't just-"

"Where's my grandson?" He asked the man with a threatening tone.

The man faltered a little. But then, he smiled even more wickedly. "A dragon took him." He told them before he started giggling to himself.

"What?!"

"You're lying!"

"Stop making up such nonsense, you monster!"

The Fairies shouted at the man, but Makarov silenced them with a wave of his hand. "Is what you said true?" He asked.

"Yep! Every word. A dragon came down with a flash of lightning, looked at Laxus-chan, before taking him away. Hihihi, isn't that hilarious?!" The man giggled, laughing his head off at a punchline that seemed to only anger the other Fairies.

Makarov however, just nodded to the Rune Knights, and they dragged the man away, all the while the murderer known as Ivan Dreyar laughed his head off.

Today, in the town of Magnolia, there was not a cloud in the sky due to the sudden storm last night having taken all the clouds with it. The sun shone unerringly down on the land as if there was nothing wrong with the world at all. In spite of this, the town seemed to have been covered by a dark, black cloud and at its source... Was the Guild called Fairy Tail...

* * *

 **End of Chapter**

* * *

 **A/N:** **And that's the first chapter! Tell me what you guys think. Love it? Hate it? Yay? Nay? Please comment and let me know! I've already planned how the story will go around** **X784** (The Canon start of the Manga), **and how I would like to end the story as well as the character's relationship with one another, but everything else in-between? Well, I'd have to go through quite a number of chapters before I get there so we'll see!**

 **As for the next update, maybe next week? It's mostly written down. The problem is I'm not liking the pacing/world-building. I feel like I put too much in that it now feels like a Filler Chapter, and thats not a good thing to write so early in the story. Hopefully, I manage to cut out the parts I feel like is useless and get on to the next scenes.**

 **Anyway, if you want to help me out with the story by cutting out whatever is useless** (basically being a Beta) **, drop me a PM!**

 **See ya guys soon!**


	2. Chapter 2 - Edeoceas

**_DISCLAIMER_** ** _: I'M SORRY THIS IS LATE EDITION_**

 **CHAPTER WARNING:**

 **This chapter has yet to be Beta'd by my betas.**

 **They might take a while to get back to me, but I wanted to get this chapter out.**

 **Since it's been a month since the first chapter, I didn't want to still keep just locked up on my account.**

 **If there are _major_ changes, I'll delete and re-upload the chapter and point out the changes.**

 **If there are** _minor_ **changes, I'll tell you on the next chapter.**

* * *

 **A/N: I had trouble writing this damn chapter. Mainly because I hated the flow and it started feeling like it was dragging, so I had to rewrite this several times, changing the location for Laxus' training each time and how Edeoceas looked. At first, there was no Acropolis, but as I kept writing Laxus basically going through a US Marine survival training, it made more sense to just build the Acropolis so Laxus actually had a place to eat, sleep, and train on a deserted island. I'll probably post all the _CRAP_ I wrote as a different fiction. Simply as a way to see how different the first draft was, to the second, and to this. Plus, it might grab more viewers LOL.**

 **Then there was the PoV! Ugh! I kept switching from Omniscient to 3rd PoV and I was causing so much head hopping that even I got Whiplash when Laxus and Alastor talked. I'm not even sure I solved that. I'll ask my Betas if he/she is getting whiplash while reading.**

* * *

 ** _Dialogue Guide:_**

"Laxus" - Normal Speech

 _"Calcos" -_ Normal Speech but in a different language

 _'Ultear' -_ Thinking/thoughts

 **"Alastor"** \- Dragon/Beast speech or Humans growling/shouting

 ** _'Igneel'_ **\- Dragon/Beast thoughts

 _ **BOOOOM!** -_Sound Effects (No apostrophes)

* * *

Laxus Dreyar woke up from a good night's sleep. Never had he ever felt as energetic as he had today. He was thinking a mile a minute of the things he could do at Fairy Tail, or the meal he could cook for his mom or-

His thoughts came to a screeching halt as he suddenly felt the unfamiliar hardness of the bed he laid on. In fact, he doubted it was a bed at all. He wondered for a moment if he had somehow fallen off his bed.

He opened his eyes- or at least tried to, as blinding light filled his vision. He groaned, wondering if he also forgot to close the window last night.

He tried to blink a few times, trying to get used to the brightness surrounding him with no success. Hence, he turned his body to the opposite direction of the light and rubbed his eyes blearily.

A bird chirped in the area and Laxus froze mid rubbing. The bird didn't sound like it had come from outside, and it was curiously close like the bird was in the room with him. But then he felt the wind blowing around him, and he now doubted he was in a room to begin with. Then his hearing picked up the distant sound of waves, prompting him to stand up as fast as he could and he looked around his surroundings.

"UWAAAAH!" Laxus let out an involuntary scream as he found himself not in his room, in fact, he doubted he was even in Magnolia. He was now in a circular open-air temple at the peak of a mountain, and he was sitting near the edge of the cliff. The temple floor was made in tiers, with the part he had been lying down on was the highest tier while the central circle being the lowest. There were no walls at all, but the building was instead supported by marble stone pillars with a domed ceiling at the very top of the mountain.

A bird cried out in the sky above, attracting Laxus' view beyond the pillars. He looked up to see birds of every color flying in the early morning sky before they dived down in a shower of colors. He stared at the birds as they flew down and nested themselves in a stone city that was at the base of the mountain. As Laxus looked closer, he noticed that all the buildings were covered in vines while trees sprouted through stone floors and roofs alike. It was apparent that the city had long turned into ruins, and beyond the abandoned city was the endless blue sea, its waves serenely colliding against the white beach that completely surrounded the settlement.

Laxus realized he was on a deserted island with no memory of how he got there. Anxiety rose up from the pits of his stomach, and it whispered to the young boy that his parents had left him here, alone and forgotten, because he was no longer wanted. His young heart started to beat faster as the thought of being abandoned scared him. He thought he had done something very bad like breaking something important, or disturbing his dad when he was busy, or-

 **"How are you feeling, boy?"**

"UWAAAAH!" Laxus once more let out a scream of surprise as a booming voice sounded from inside the temple. His heartfelt relief at not being alone, but it still pounded as he was startled by the voice he wasn't expecting.

"That surprised me. Sorry for screaming mister..." He started to say as he turned around to face the speaker that had just spoken to him.

Only for him to let out another scream.

"UWAAAAAAAH!" His eyes landed on the majestic form of a legendary aqua-green dragon with its back to the rising sun. The dragon was on the opposite end of the temple, but Laxus could still tell it was very, very big with several sharp and pointy golden spikes and horns on top of its head. As he made eye contact with the beast, he took several steps back in fear... Only for his foot to land on nothing but air and Laxus' body fell off the cliff's edge.

Time seemed to slow for Laxus as he saw the dragon comically gape its eyes wide open and, quick as lightning, shot towards him. Before his body could completely disappear over the edge, the dragon's hand shot out under Laxus and caught him in its palm.

 **"Have you taken leave of your senses boy?!"** The dragon growled at the child but received no answer. Instead, the young child was curled into a ball and was bawling his eyes out. The dragon sighed. He knew humans would be terrified of him, but he hoped having a bit of distance between them wouldn't frighten the boy too much, and that putting him on top of the mountain would prevent the child from hiding into any cracks he couldn't get to. The dragon didn't take into account that the boy would be scared to his wit's end that he'd take a step back over the cliff.

Having no other choice than waiting for the child to calm down, the dragon walked away from the edge of the cliff and sat the boy in the center of the temple before lying down next to him. The dragon let out another sigh. Honestly, he should have seen this coming but being 400 years out of touch with humanity, he could only rationalize to himself as he waited for the boy to calm down.

Laxus was scared, any child would be in his situation, really. After all, it wasn't every day you suddenly wake up on a deserted island with the thought that you were abandoned by your parents, and in the next instant, come face to face with a dragon of all things! And so he did what any normal child would do in a frightening situation: He kept crying.

It took a while for him to calm down, close to an hour actually, but his crying wails soon turned to soft sobs, before finally turning into small hiccups.

 **"Have you calmed enough, child?"** The dragon asked once he guessed that he could converse with the boy and leveled his head down to the child to be less intimidating.

"W-W-Where am I, Mr. Dragon?" Laxus stuttered out and sounded close to pleading.

 **"We are on Edeocaes. An island to the east by south of your country."** The dragon answered.

"W-why am I here? What about dad and mom and gramps?" Laxus asked as he wiped the tears from his cheek. "Y-you didn't eat them, did you?"

 **"No young one, I did not eat them."** The dragon smiled, glad that the child showed good character by worrying about others even in his current situation.

 **"Now, as to why you are here... Last night, your father had risked his life to get a dragon's lacrima that would cure you of your disease."** The dragon started, but then saw the boys' brows shooting up as if he did not know that he was sick. **"This surprises you?"**

Laxus nodded slowly. Him being sick was news to him.

 **"Hmm... Perhaps your father did not tell you that you were actually sick so that you have no cause to worry?"** The dragon speculated, recalling the peculiar actions humans tend to do for their loved ones.

"Dad was... trying to cure me?" Laxus repeated in disbelief.

 **"Oh, yes."** The dragon confirmed, nodding his head with admiration in his eyes. **"His love and loyalty to you were very admirable. I would even say your father is one of the fine examples to fatherhood. Truly, his dedication is something to hold in high regard!"**

Laxus nodded dumbly along with the dragon, but then warmth spread out through his body, causing him to smile as one thought resounded in his mind: His dad loved him! His mom and gramps always told him that his dad loved him, but since he rarely ever gets to talk or see his dad, he had started to wonder if he even cared at all. Just hearing someone else confirm it made his dad's love all the more real to Laxus.

 **"In any case, some sicknesses afflict one's Magic Power and lifespan."** The dragon continued. **"There are only a few ways to cure such sicknesses, and one such method is to renew the body of the ill. And it just so happens that using a dragon's lacrima will renew a person's body. In consideration to your father's great love, I gave him my blessings to use my lacrima on you. However, there is something I wish for in exchange... and your father has agreed to it as well."**

"W-what is it?" Laxus stammered, still nervous at talking to the dragon.

 **"You will be my student."** The dragon stated simply.

"Your student?" He repeated dumbly, not sure how the dragon's wish relates to him being his student.

 **"You see child, a dragon's lacrima is more than just an easy way to gain power."** The dragon explained as he saw Laxus' puzzled face. **"It is the regalia, the proof, that a dragon has recognized your strength and chooses you to be his successor. In your case, however, you have consumed my lacrima, but I have yet to recognize your strength. As such, the simple solution is obvious but... what would be your decision, child; do you wish to be my student?"**

"Eh?" Again, Laxus could only reply dumbly. From the way the conversation had been going, it seemed like the dragon and his father had already decided for him, but the dragon had ended up asking him for his opinion.

 **"Ufufufu."** The dragon chuckled at seeing his surprised face. **"I know that I have said it is my wish and that your father has agreed to it, but I will not take an unwilling student. The choice of your future falls not onto me, nor to the whims of your father. It is yours alone."**

Laxus looked at the floor, frowning in thought. This was of course quite the sudden choice for him to make, not to mention he was only seven years old. He had barely started training Magic a week ago, and now he was being offered to be taught by a dragon. He looked up at his would-be teacher as he considered agreeing to the plan. Sure he was a dragon, but so far he was a friendly dragon and looked very, very cool. He counted that as a definite plus. Then there was his dad already agreeing with the plan. That meant he expected him to have the dragon- Mr. Dragon, as his teacher. He didn't want to disappoint him by saying no, so that was another point to agreeing. And finally... He couldn't wait to tell everyone all about it!

 _'Oh wait, dad would have planned this together with mom and gramps. Still... I'd have plenty of things to tell mom after each lesson.'_ Laxus assumed, believing that all the grown ups in his life agree and make plans together. He was imagining himself going back home every day after every lesson; Either to his mom cooking or him helping her, then they'd have their meal together while he talks about all the amazing things he learned that day as she gives him a big, happy smile. To Laxus, that was the ending to each day, and he did not expect it to ever end.

He gathered his courage and stood up from the ground, his decision already made. He looked Mr. Dragon in the eye, then bowed formally like how one meets their instructor. "Please take care of me, Mr. Dragon."

 **"Fufufu, there is no need to be so formal with me, child."** Mr. Dragon chuckled. **"Just call me Alastor, please."**

"Okay, Alastor." Laxus nodded, dropping the formal attitude. "My name is Laxus Dreyar."

Alastor of Edeocaes looked down at his new student and smiled inwardly. He could see that Laxus was still a little nervous around him, but the boy willed himself to be calm. At this point, only time would make the boy entirely comfortable in his presence, but they had plenty of that. The dragon then turned his gaze to the East and saw that the sun was already well above the horizon. It was high time he went out to and got themselves some breakfast. But just as he began to move, an idea started to form in his head.

 **"Tell me young Laxus, can you cook?"** He queried, his plan hinging on his student.

"Yeah." Laxus nodded. "My mom gets sick sometimes. So whenever we get the chance, she teaches me to cook. That way, whenever she gets sick, I can prepare the food myself. I'm not as good as her though." He answered and sheepishly scratched his head.

To Alastor, that was good enough for his plan. All the meals he had been eating for the past 400 years had either been raw or cooked by his Lightning Magic. It was high time he got to eat another meal prepared by human hands. He stood up and motioned for Laxus to do the same. **"Come, young one. I shall show you to the Taberna and then we can begin your lessons."**

Laxus tilted his head at the word 'Taberna.' He obviously didn't know the word and was going to ask Alastor what it meant, but the dragon picked up on his unasked question.

 **"The Taberna is the name of a tavern built here in the 'Acropolis'. It is quite close by, and it is quite unique as it... Actually, it would be best if I simply showed you the Acropolis."** Alastor said, as he saw Laxus' face contorting further in confusion at the mention of another unknown word. Again, he gestured for his student to stand up and he complied with his teacher. The pair walked side by side as Alastor began to tell Laxus more about the temple they were in.

 **"As you will be spending a good amount of time here, it would be best for you to know more about my home. As I have said, we are on the island city of Edeocaes, and I was its ruler. The place where we are now is called the Tholos. It is my personal chamber and where I come to rest and watch over the island. While it is on the very summit of the mountain, it is only one part of a whole."** Alastor explained.

The two of them stopped on the edge of the Tholos, and Laxus' jaw dropped open as he saw more dragons with the same color as Alastor. In another moment, however, his eyes stopped playing tricks on him and what he thought to be dragons were actually lavishly decorated buildings. What was in front of him was a mini-city, just below the peak and situated on a flat plateau with tall walls around it. The buildings weren't decorated with gaudy gems or precious metals that tried to get your attention by merely being shiny. Instead, each building was made of beautiful white marble, inlaid with elegant life-like carvings, rows of sturdy columns in a peristyle design like the Tholos, and capped by aqua-green roof tiles on top that shimmered like dragon scales.

 **"Welcome to the Acropolis. The crowning jewel of Edeocaes."** Alastor proclaimed proudly. He gazed on the city below with pride flowing behind his eyes, reminiscing about the people that were now long gone from even the annals of history. He wished, not for the first time that the Edeoceans were still living on the island with him. Then he shook himself out of regret and Alastor stepped forward to descend the stone staircase in front of the Tholos. After a moment, Laxus retrieved his jaw from the floor and followed after the dragon.

* * *

The boy and the dragon followed the staircase down to a round courtyard with a mosaic tile floor. The tiles were blue on the outer edges then turned yellow, then green and grey, then emerald and gold at the center. As Laxus approached, he realized that the blue tiles formed the image of the sea, with the yellow as a beach, the green and grey as a stone city populated by trees and people. And at the very center of the mosaic was the image of a dragon that was roaring to the heavens. It was a mosaic of Edeocaes with Alastor reigning as it's king.

As they approached the center of the courtyard, Alastor then began to describe the Acropolis to Laxus. There were a total of eight sections to the mini-city, with each section pointing to a different direction like a compass. To the North was the Tholos, and going clockwise, the other sections were: The Monasterion, the Library, the Magi's tower, the Gateway, the Spartacus, the Taberna, and finally the Parliament.

The 'Taberna' was actually the Edeocean word for "dining hall" and there were several of them built around the island. However, the Taberna inside the Acropolis was the first and most well-renowned one in ancient Edeoceas that it qualified to be known merely as 'The Taberna.' It was built in the western section of the Acropolis and was big enough to serve a thousand people all at once. Despite its size though, Alastor still couldn't fit between the columns of the Taberna so he left it up to Laxus to gather whatever seasonings that would go well with a fish dish, while the dragon had to leave to capture their meal.

At first, Laxus had to furrow his brows at his teacher's instructions. Aside from Alastor, it didn't look like anyone had lived in Edeocaes for a very long time. Because of that, whatever food or seasonings was inside the Taberna should turned have rotten or had completely disintegrated due to the passage of time. But then to Laxus' astonishment, the entire building was clean, as if the Edeocaens had just left and would come back in the next hour. The kitchen and storage rooms were in the same state, with the storage room stocked full of raw ingredients and seasonings in perfect condition.

He spaced out for an entire minute, wondering how the heck the Taberna was perfectly preserved. Realizing that no answer would come by just standing there, he resolved himself to ask his teacher about it later and continued to search for the seasonings. He went to one side of the storage room where sacks, jars, and pots were neatly arranged on stone shelves. They were the spices and herbs he was looking for. They all seemed to have been labeled well as there was writing carved on the shelf, but it was written in a language he couldn't even read, so he had to taste each seasoning(to his misfortune, as some of the spices he REALLY didn't like). At the same time, Alastor had dived down into the sea and now resurfaced with a giant tuna in his hands. It struggled in his grip, but he merely shocked it with his lightning causing it to go limp in his arms.

The two of them then met up on a raised dais built in front of the Taberna which had an altar on it. It was actually Alastor's private table, meant to be used whenever he wanted to eat amongst his people. Alastor prepared the fish by cutting off the fins and gills, and Laxus seasoned it. As Laxus was wondering how they were going to cook the fish, Alastor pointed his finger at their meal, and a flash of lightning erupted from the appendage. The lightning bolt hit the fish right at the center, cooking it in less than a second. Though the fish eerily spasmed due to the lightning, Laxus was very impressed with the Magic he was shown, and the two of them quickly ate their meal.

Once they finished eating their lunch, Alastor cleans up their leftovers by turning everything to ash with his lightning. At first, this surprised Laxus, but the dragon explained that the Taberna was a Magic Item in of itself and kept everything in it in pristine condition and will clean up any trash it detects. This was the reason why everything was preserved and why the Acropolis hadn't crumbled to dust like the rest of Edeocaes below the mountain.

* * *

The draconic teacher then took his student to another section of the Acropolis called the 'Spartacus' where the elite Edeocaen soldiers and generals stayed. The Spartacus had its own walls surrounding it, and the inside was mostly lined with barracks and caches of armories. In the center of the section, however, was a long training field around 300 meters and was another one of the Edeocaens Magic Item. Not only could it be used for running laps or exercising combat drills, but the field could also produce targets for both melee and long range practice. For their first lesson though, Alastor needed to make sure how much his student knew of Magic. He sat Laxus down in the center of the field and Alastor himself sat down a few meters in front of him with all the grace of a dragon.

 **"Now then Laxus,"** Alastor began, **"we will begin exercising your Magic Power and Spell Power to prepare your body to use Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic."**

"Magic Power? Spell Power?" Laxus asked, tilting his head.

 **"You... Do you not know this yet?"** Alastor asked only to see Laxus shake his head. The dragon sighed, silently lamenting at humanities state of Magic. The good news was that this meant Laxus was a complete beginner and he should not have picked up any bad habits in casting spells. **"Very well... I shall explain them to you.**

 **"Every person that uses Magic, be they Mage, Wizard, or Witch, has a container within their body that determines just how many spells they can cast, or how many magical tools they can use. This is what we call their Magic Power. It is composed of Etherano, which exists inside of every being and in the air we breathe. If a person's Magic Power runs out of Etherano, they will be able to regain it by merely breathing the air around them after some time. Eating food would also help one recover their Etherano at a much quicker pace.**

 **"Now as for Spell Power, this determines how proficient you are in any spell. Spell Power affects how strong you can cast any spell and how much Etherano the spell will consume. If you are skilled with your Spell Power, you can use the minimum amount of Etherano to activate the spell, while being able to give maximum damage.**

 **"Simply put, Magical Power can be said to be your stamina, while Spell Power, for example, would refer to the strength of your arm. Put it into constant use, it will get stronger and thicker. Do you understand?"**

Laxus nodded, but then immediately furrowed his brows. Alastor waited as Laxus formed a question in his mind. "Alastor, you said that a person will recover Etherano as long as they keep breathing the air, right? Can't a person just use the Etherano in the air in the first place?"

Alastor shook his head. **"The Etherano in the air, to put it artlessly, is in a 'raw' state. In general, for us living beings, our spells will not work with 'raw' Etherano. We have to convert it with our bodies and place them in our Magical Power before we can use them."**

Laxus considered it for a moment, then thought of something else. "Then would it be possible to train how fast our body can convert the raw Etherano?" He asked.

 **"If it is, I do not know of such a method and I have yet to encounter anyone that had succeeded."** Alastor shrugged. **"However, I can tell you that the people of Edeocaes had once tried to research that very idea but were unable to complete the project. There is a Library here in Edeocaes and, with any luck, perhaps they left their findings there, but that is a task for another time.**

 **"For now, let us begin your exercise. Use your basic lightning magic and direct it at me with everything you have."**

"Wait, I just remembered something." Laxus raised his hand, as if to both stop and ask a question. "Don't I already have your lacrima placed in me? So can't I use Dragon Slayer Magic instead of Lightning Magic?"

Once more, Alastor shook his head in the negative. **"While it is true that you have my lacrima flowing within you, if you use it now the spells you cast would be severely weakened due to your lack in Spell Power and familiarity with Dragon Slayer Magic. If you had grown up using your Dragon Slayer Magic without my training, the lacrima would have degraded and your Dragon Slayer Magic would end up being weak forever. Any more questions?"**

Laxus shook his head.

 **"Good. Now stand up and use your best Lightning Magic on me. You do not have to fear my safety either. Remember, I'm a lightning dragon, and I would not be affected by my element."**

Laxus nodded before he stood up as per his teacher's instructions. Falling into a stance, he placed one foot forward with his forward hand raised and backhand under his chin, ready to use his Lightning Magic. It hadn't been long since he first learned how to use Magic and he tried to recall what his gramps first taught him. As he recalled, he needed to concentrate and look inside his body to find his **spirit** and the _spirit_ 'flowing within the natural connection.' From what Alastor had just explained, the former **spirit** should be his **Spell Power** and the latter _spirit_ should be the _Etherano in his Magical Power._ He took his _Magical Power_ and fueled it into his **Spell Power**. And THAT was Magic, a power that was made inside his body, a power he could use to fuel his spells.

He improved his focus even further, holding the Magic inside his body while picturing the image of a lightning bolt in his mind. Laxus 'pulled' his Magic to his arms, and his mind shaped the Magic into the shape of a lightning bolt as it passed from his arms to his palms.

 **"Lightning Bolt!"** Laxus yelled. The image in his mind crystallized and made the Magic in his right fist transform into yellow electricity. He pulled the fist back before punching forward with two fingers extended, pointing at Alastor.

The bolt of yellow Lightning jumped from his hand and headed straight for the dragon... who opened his mouth and swallowed the lightning bolt.

"EHHHH?!" Laxus let out a surprised yell as he saw his teacher just open his mouth and consumed his whole attack. He didn't expect his teacher to get hurt, but he sure as heck wasn't expecting him to actually EAT the spell.

Alastor closed his eyes and... looked like he was tossing the lightning bolt in his mouth and chewing it with his teeth like he was thoroughly tasting the Magic. Laxus just watched with his jaw hanging open as the dragon swallowed the spell he just fired.

 **"Mmm... As I thought, the purity of the Magic Power is quite good. However, the spell is oversaturated with too much Etherano, and while that would cause the spell to have a bigger impact, it also wasted more Etherano. Not only that, but the spell could have been made stronger by... Ah, I'm getting ahead of myself."** Alastor said as he opened his eyes and saw the dumbstruck expression on Laxus. **"Carry on, Laxus. I'll train you in the specifics another time. For now, we must push the limits of your Magic Power."**

As Alastor said that, Laxus re-closed his mouth and began casting spells again. The morning ticked by for the young boy as he fired spell after spell, get exhausted, rest, and resume his training. At times Alastor would start instructing him on a new basic Lightning Spell to try out, and the whole process would start over again. Of course, he hadn't actually mastered any spell just yet. Alastor just wanted him to be as familiar with as many basic spells as possible before they can move on to mastering the spells. Soon enough, noon was just around the corner.

* * *

 **"The next spell is called Polarity Wall. It is a defensive..."** Alastor started but then he trailed off. He was about to teach Laxus the last spell for the day until something caught his attention. He turned his gaze to the horizon and his eyes narrowed as he saw something too far away for any human eye to see but eventually turned his soft gaze back to his student. **"Actually, you can learn Polarity Wall tomorrow. Right now, I think it's time for a demonstration of what kind of power you will eventually wield."**

Laxus wondered ehat his teacher was glaring at, but quicky jumped from where he sat at the mention of a demonstration. He was excited to see a **_REAL_** spell from his teacher. For the entire morning, Alastor had occasionally cast a few spells but they had all been basic spells like Thunderbolt and Chain Lightning. There was nothing wrong with spells themselves, but even among humans, they were quite well known. If Alastor said he was going to demonstrate the power he would wield, that meant it was going to be REALLY strong, and probably something no one knows besides Alastor. He followed behind his teacher as the two of them made their way back to the courtyard and the dragon told Laxus to wait by the edge of the mosaic image.

 **"Do not be alarmed by what I am about to do. Simply stay where you are and see how far the effects of the spell goes."** Alastor said as he moved to the center of the mosaic, right on top of his own dragon image.

Then Alastor began to glow. Even for Laxus, a complete beginner to Magic, could feel the vast amount of Magic Power his teacher was beginning to emit and was reminded that Alastor was indeed a dragon of legends. The air around the dragon began to hum, and lightning started to crackle all over his body. As if responding to the Edeocean ruler's action, the storm clouds began to gather, and the mosaic began to change. The clear blue tiles that once represented the sea turned dark gray as if it was now mimicking the sky above and the tiles that were people flipped over to an image of them kneeling down towards the center of the mosaic.

Alastor then unfurled his wings and strained his legs as if he was about to take flight. Instead, however, Alastor roared as he looked up to the sky, his back arching from the spell and his chest puffed forward. A beam of pure Etherano and Magic shot out from the dragon's mouth and into the sky above. With his roar, the sky answered in kind and the clouds clapped with thunder. Lightning then began to rain on the seas beyond, and great waves began to surge. Mist descended on the sea and whirlpools formed all around the island, making entry by sea or air all but impossible. Except, of course, if you were a lightning dragon that could shrug off a lightning strike.

Laxus could only gawk at the pure display of power his teacher had just displayed. He just stared at his teacher, who was now losing the glow around his body and was returning to normal. For a moment, the Acropolis was lost in darkness thanks to the storm clouds overhead, but then streetlights with Light Lacrimas began to turn on, bathing the city with light.

"Whoa..." Laxus said dumbly, he seemed to be doing that a lot today. "You changed the weather..."

Alastor raised a brow at his student's remark as he walked back to him. **"While that might be true Laxus, the actual effects of the spell is to hide my island and make inaccessible. I felt prying eyes trying to look into Edeocaes and I simply 'closed the curtains' on such nosy people.**

"Doesn't this cost a lot of Etherano to keep running though?" Laxus wondered.

 **"Oh no,"** Alastor said as he shook his head. **"The beauty of this spell is that you let nature do most of the hard work. The actually difficult part of this is starting the spell and understanding the concepts and ideas behind it."**

Gesturing for his student to follow, the two of them then started walking towards the Taberna. **"I will teach you the particulars about it later, but for now, it is time for us to have lunch."**

Lunch was done in the same manner as breakfast with Alastor leaving to catch their meal and Laxus gathering the seasonings at the Taberna. This time though, Alastor brought back a boar monster called a 'Bullfango'. It had a pair of large tusk, short fur and tail, and made for very delicious BBQ.

Once they were finished with their meal, it was time for Laxus to resume his lessons. Alastor brought him to Eastern Section of the Acropolis where the Library was located. The building had three wings connected from the center, with tall glass windows and a giant door that allowed Alastor to enter the building. Each wing of the library had one central aisle, and each section had four levels of rows upon rows of books.

Alastor then took a few books and lifted Laxus up to the fourth floor, as it was the only level that allowed him to meet Laxus eye to eye while sat on the ground level. The books the dragon took were not Magic books but were actually very mundane books with illustrations on each page. In other words, a picture book made for the sole purpose of teaching foreigners the Edeocaen language. Incidentally, the Edeocaen language was based on dragon tongue, but Laxus had yet to know that.

Alastor first read to him the Edeocaen alphabet and made him memorize it. Then he started reading out the words in the books, while Laxus made an effort of writing down the equivalent word in Fiorian on an empty notebook. They remained that way for the duration of the afternoon, with the dragon occasionally switching to some other subject such as philosophy, science, and mathematics.

* * *

 **"... And that ends our lesson for today."** Alastor announced as he used Telekinesis Magic to close textbook on the basics of how lightning is formed naturally.

"Finally- I mean..." Laxus said as he closed the notebook his teacher gave to him, but then realized he was being impolite. He stood up and bowed to his teacher. "Thank you, Alastor."

 **"It is fine young one."** The dragon said, waving Laxus' faux pas away. **"I know children like you prefer to move your bodies around. I too was like that."**

Laxus smiled. He enjoyed his first day and his teacher was patient with him, answering any and all questions he had. He was looking forward to what he could learn for tomorrow as he had learned so many new lightning spells already. He was even able to learn that lightning doesn't actually come down from the sky, but rather goes down and then up due to the what-cha-ma-calls-it in air... Eh, he'll remember what they were called tomorrow. He was just ready to go home now! Though the sun hadn't set yet, it was quite late, perhaps even too late for him to help his mom make dinner. At the very least, he hoped he could still eat with his mom before he would eventually collapse on his bed as he was dead tired.

 **"Now then, I shall go an catch our dinner."** Alastor said, unaware of his student's thoughts.

Laxus froze up as his plans were immediately shattered by his teacher's announcement. He was eating dinner here? If he wasn't going home now... then when would he? "Uhh... Alastor..."

 **"Yes, Laxus?"**

"... When will I go home?" Laxus asked hesitantly.

Alastor blinked. The boy had warmed up to him during the day, and he picked up on his sudden hesitance which made him wonder why he was asking that particular question. His brows furrowed but then immediately shot up as he suddenly recalled that humans did not measure time as he did.

To dragons, ten years was not a very long time, but for humans that was a very big part of their life. Realization dawned on him that, by draconic standards, he had taken a mere hatchling away from his parents and would return him only when he had fully matured into an adult. He looked down to his student who was waiting with bated breath for his answer. There was the option of lying, of making an excuse, but he dismissed this thought quickly. He can only tell his student the truth.

 **"... You will go home in ten years."** Alastor answered, his voice echoing in the library like a verdict.

"Ten... Ten years?" Laxus stuttered, his eyes turning into dots as anxiety took over his heart. "But, but why?! Can't you just take me home and pick me up in the morning?! I promise I'll come every day!"

 **"I'm sorry Laxus, but I'm afraid it's not that simple."** Alastor apologized.

"Why not?" Laxus sobbed, holding back tears. This was the first time in his life that he hadn't seen his mom for a whole day, and now he was being told he couldn't even go home for ten years?

Alastor sighed as he organized his thoughts as to how best explain his situation to the child. While it is true that he is a dragon and is quite powerful compared to the average human, he could not openly risk his life. Too many things depended on his survival.

 **"Do you know of the people who call themselves Dragon Hunters?"** Alastor started.

Laxus sniffed but, nodded his head. There were several groups children his age could look up to. There was the Rune Knights that protected the cities across Fiore, and there were the Mages and their respective Guilds taking all sorts of jobs to help people. And then there was the Dragon Hunters...

 **"As their name suggests, their sole purpose is to hunt dragons. Compared to an ordinary Mage, they far outclass them. Dragon Hunters not only use Lost or Forbidden Magic, they also make weapons out of the scales and bones of any dragon they find... Although,** **most of the materials they've been using for the past centuries are from the lesser dragon-kin such as drakes, wyverns, and wyrms. The reason for that is because... there are no more dragons."**

"But... you're a dragon. What can they do to you anyway?"

 **"Indeed, I am a dragon, and as you have seen for yourself, I am quite strong. Against a thousand Dragon Hunters, I would come out victorious. Despite that,** **a single mistake could end my life and I could very well be the last dragon that walks on this realm. That is why I do not foolishly display myself for all the world to see. That is why it was so important for me to have a successor; To make sure that the legacy of my race continues on."**

"But... What about my parents?" Laxus panicked, trying to come up with a reason to go home. "What about mom?! If she gets sick, I have to take care of her!"

 **"This might be presumptuous of me to assume, but wouldn't your father take care of her? As much as he loves you, I'm sure that love extends to your mother too. That is what it means to be family after all."**

Laxus couldn't argue with that. It made sense after all. Not able to come up with any reason to have his teacher take him home, Laxus hung his head and stared at the floor.

 **"... Are you alright?"** The dragon asked, his voice filled with concern.

The young boy could only shrug at the question. "I... I've never left mom for so long... I'm, I'm worried if she'll get lonely. Dad usually comes home late, so... it's usually just mom and me..."

Alastor sighed, hating himself for forgetting to tell such an important detail to his student. They had spent just one day together, but Laxus had shown him great promise. The young boy was curious and creative, which gave him an inherent talent in Magic. Not only that, but it was obvious that the boy greatly cares for his family. With all of these qualities, Alastor couldn't ask for a better heir. And that was why he could not stand to see his pupil so down cast.

 **"... One week."** Alastor murmured.

"Huh?"

 **"In one week... we may go back to your hometown."** The dragon decided.

The change in Laxus was immediate with his eyes lighting up.

 **"However!"** Alastor quickly continued, not wanting to raise the boy's hope too high. **"We can only travel in the cover of night and for no more than an hour at best."**

As fast as the light appeared in Laxus' eyes, it dimmed once more, but not completely. "Then... I won't be able to talk to mom for long. And if we go too late, she'll probably be asleep too... so..."

 **"I'm sorry Laxus,"** the dragon apologized again. **"That is as far as I can risk. It is bad enough that your father and his associates know of my existence. Any more and Dragon Hunters around the world might come looking for me. While I could easily over power a thousand humans, I do not wish to mindlessly end their lives or drag innocents into the ensuing scuffle."**

"But, but what do I do?" The boy fretted. "Even if we go, I don't want to wake mom up in the middle of the night..."

 **"Perhaps... you can write a letter?"** Alastor suggested. **"I know it is not much, but it is the only feasible solution we have..."**

"Write a letter..." Laxus repeated in a mumble. He's never written anyone a letter before, but he couldn't help but feel that Alastor's suggestion was just ridiculous. He felt like scoffing, or throwing the notebook in his hands at his teacher. But he didn't. He might feel frustrated, but that wasn't what he _WANTED_ to do. What he wanted was to just go home to his mom and have dinner with her. In the end though, he couldn't do anything but nod his head and go with his teacher.

Alastor, meanwhile, could only sigh as to how things have played out. Granted, they have only spent a day together but with Laxus' cheerful and easy personality, their connection blossomed quickly. Even so, with the way it was now, their relationship might as well be back to square one. Except, instead of Laxus' 'cheerful and easy personality', it might as well be replaced with reluctance and wariness. Alastor wanted to slam his head into the earth for being too hasty with his actions.

When his Dragon Lacrima had been stolen, he had lost all hope on aiding Igneel and his group to defeat the _thrice-damned betrayer_ , Acnologia. But when he sensed his Lacrima in the nearby vicinity, he quickly left Edeoceas to reclaim it. Not only did he find his Lacrima though, but he also found a boy compatible to use it with! And due to his own greed, he acted in haste and grabbed both the boy and his Lacrima together instead of proposing the idea to Laxus and his father and make him prepared for the ten year training under him.

Now Alastor could do nothing but wait for Laxus to forgive him for his error and hope that the boy can continue his training with the same curiosity and creativity he had shown today.

* * *

Laxus listlessly followed after his teacher as they left the Library and headed for the Taberna. Alastor was quick to catch their meal, but Laxus didn't even prepare any seasonings nor did he eat much at all. After that, Alastor took him to the Monasterion section of the Acropolis. The section was a block of apartments formerly used by the ancient priest of Edeocaes, but was now where Laxus would be sleeping for his stay in the island. He didn't bother to look around for the best apartment, he simply picked the nearest one, entered, found a room, and collpased onto the nearest bed.

As soon as his face hit the pillow, tears poured out from his eyes. Intense feelings of longing and homesickness assaulted the young boy's heart and he could no longer hold the tears back.

"No... I shouldn't cry." Laxus mumbled to the pillow. He had to be strong right now, and he had to write his mom a letter. He sat up on the bed, wiped the tears as best he could, and looked around the room he was in. A Light Lacrima lit the room from the ceiling, revealing plain stone walls and floors, while the bed, the desk, and a closet were made of wood and was the only furniture in the room. There was a curtained window opposite the wooden door, and the bed was laid under it, to the left side next to the wall. The desk was opposite the bed, and already a few books were left there, probably from the previous owner of the room. The closet was at the foot of the bed, but Laxus wasn't curious enough to open it just yet.

Laxus had left the door open and he realized he had dropped the notebook and pen Alastor had given him in the Library. He quickly picked up his things and closed the door. Then he went to the desk, ripped out a page from the notebook, and began writing.

His penmanship was shoddy and left behind large lettering, like every child his age. His teachers in Magnolia would have told him to write properly, but he didn't care about his handwriting right now. He simply wanted to write his to his mother.

 _I'm being trained by a dragon... but I think you already knew that_.

 _The dragon's name is Alastor and he's a King of an entire island._

 _There are so many amazing things here_ _and I wish I could tell you all about it._

 _I won't be able to come home for a while. Alastor said he couldn't risk going out of his island because he doesn't want to be seen_.

 _You won't be able to read me bed time stories but, I'll be fine._

A tear dropped onto the the paper, blurring what he just wrote. Frustrated, he wiped the tears away and rewrote the blurred word.

 _I'm sorry I won't be able to make you breakfast or help you with dinner._

 _I promise I'll be good. I won't stay up late or be picky about the food I eat. I promise I'll eat my vegetables._

 _I'll make sure to learn plenty of magic spells so I'll have so much to show you when I get home._

 _Don't worry about me, mom! I'll be fine with Alastor!_

Tears poured out unbidden from Laxus. He kept wiping them away but several kept dropping on to the paper, blurring the text and making him rewrite a few parts.

 _So please don't cry! I know you'll miss me lots but I promise I'll write to you every day, so don't cry okay, mom?_

 _Tell gramps and dad I love them and that I said hi, okay?_

 _I love you so much, mom!_

 _I'll see you soon, I promise!_

* * *

 **END CHAPTER**

 **A/N:**

 **So what do you guys think of the chapter? Too many useless part? Scene flow utter crap? Let me know, so I can improve my writing!**

 **\- NEXT CHAPTER WHEN? ANOTHER MONTH?!**

Oh God, I hope not. I really want to get to Ultear, then to Erza. Next chapter is time skipping chapter. No, not a time skip, a time skipping. Basically, it'll be the equivalent of a film montage where there will be a lot of scenes with time passing quickly.

Speaking of Ultear and Erza... Do you guys think I should make this harem? At most, it will be Ultear, Erza, and Mirajane. No more than these three. Ultear is my original intended romance. For Erza, I personally think she's going to be inevitably close to Laxus and Erza and welcomed into "I lost family members" club. Especially when the three of them get to the guild. As for Mirajane, she HAS to join purely by accident(LOL). See, I will have an original scene with Ultear experimenting her Time Magic, and Mirajane's biggest character change is when Lissana "died". See the connection?

In any case, I'm leaning more towards the harem, but if you want to convince me otherwise, just let me know your opinion!

 **See ya guys soon!**


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